Creative Staff:
Story: Charles Soule
Art: Giuseppe Camanucoli, Cam Smith
Colors: David Curiel
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
Vader sets his sights on a Jedi who’s avoided Order 66…a Jedi Master who’s long lived in seclusion…a Jedi more powerful than any Vader has faced before…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I fairly regularly have the seven films that make up the core Star Wars film series on a background playlist on my TV, more so on the weekends while doing other things, as there are always fun little moments that catch the eye and interest and sometimes seeing things through odd ways can be revelatory. Essentially, I’m fairly familiar with the films and love how the novels and comics are expanding on everything. What’s been an interesting challenge (or struggle, in some cases) with this series is that it really is a Vader we don’t know. We know Anakin, love him or hate him, from the prequels in three different phases of his young life. We know the Vader from the original trilogy and how that unfolded. We also know him from the post-ANH comic series that gave us a richer look at his own motivations and schemes that were underway amid other events.
But Vader as he becomes a Sith? That’s new. Even the film doesn’t truly have him become a Sith. It’s there that we see him lean into the Dark Side with its power through his emotions, but Palpatine’s sending him on his mission in this series after reconstructing him to his own designs is the formal Sith training. We’ve had glimpses of this with what Palpatine did with Maul through other areas but this is a jarring experience because we know either Anakin as a limber and physical character or the more restrained Vader that simply exudes power and crushes with ease. Seeing Vader in this form, more Anakin than anything else and struggling (not enough) with the physical changes of the cybernetic legs and replaced arm puts a different spin on things. We see him trying to move as he always has and while the story and visuals don’t lean into that struggle enough for my tastes, the mindset is there to interpret it and it really does make for an interesting view, especially in this issue.
Vader’s arrival on this moon to deal with Master Infil’a has some nice setup as we’ve seen and this installment gives us some time with the droid that Infil’a works and trains with there, and has trained other Jedi with over the years. Infil’a has that old master vibe to be sure and Vader’s arrival really works well in showing how he’s reacting differently even if it’s our first experience with him. Vader simply exudes darkness which when combined with the death of so many Jedi recently that Infil’a has sensed makes it clear that Vader was involved. In fact, the line about Vader taking in the darkness of all of those killed just adds to the mystique and corruptio of Anakin. A lot of what we get here is focused on the gauntlet that Infil’a has set up for Jedi that arrive here but we see that it’s pushed to the side in favor of a more direct confrontation. Camanucoli delivers some great pages and visuals, though the sudden shift of Vader’s leg from normal to mechanical frustrates me, especially as we get a good sense of both Vader and Infil’a’s power.
In Summary:
This series is digging into an intriguing area that I’m glad to see being explored like it is and what it’s expanding upon in general as this is a neat time period to work with. Coming from novels like Catalyst and New Dawn and other areas that touch upon this period, it definitely is welcome to see what Vader has to go through to truly earn his position. Soule gives us a character that’s developing from one form to another and that transition state is awkward and unstable, much like Vader himself in a lot of ways. I do hope more of this comes about in the dialogue and exposition as well as some physical elements of ghost limbs and the like as well as Camanucoli can really do some neat things with this. It’s a great looking book that has me curious as to just how important some of these elements may be long term but it’s also making for a great story in the here and now on its own.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: July 12th, 2017
MSRP: $4.99